Automated Tool for the Extraction of the Surface Ponds Based on LIDAR Data

Abstract

The risk associated with urban flooding is expected to increase significantly in the future as a result of urbanization and climate change. It is therefore necessary to develop new strategies and tools for managing urban floods. With the increase of impervious surfaces in urban areas, due to rainfall rainwater on the surface tends to accumulate in ponds. The delimitation of these areas is important because they outline possible areas vulnerable to flooding. In this paper we have proposed the automatic identification of these ponds by developing an algorithm using the Model Builder tool of ArcGIS program. The model was applied to LiDAR data for the city of Wrocław in Poland, a city with a high risk of urban flooding. The Model Builder tool successfully delimits the ponds at the ground surface based on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), without being necessary a manual intervention, thus saving time and energy for the users.